Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the Written Answer by Baroness Sugg on 6 July (HL6060), what representations they have made to the United Nations Security Council about utilising peacekeeping forces to counter violent extremist organisation activity in (1) the North East, and (2) central-belt states, of Nigeria.

Our current assessment is that terrorist activity in Nigeria is limited to North East Nigeria. We continue to support Nigeria and the other states affected by the conflict in the Lake Chad Basin - Niger, Chad and Cameroon - to tackle the terrorist threat and support communities. We work closely with the UN in the region, including through our support to the UN Development Programme stabilisation facility in North East Nigeria and the work of the UN Office for West Africa and the Sahel.

On the Middle Belt, the UK Government has engaged closely with the Federal Government of Nigeria, state governments, international partners and the National Economic Council to help respond to the complex drivers of intercommunal violence and push for solutions.

The UK Government has no plans to make representations to the UN Security Council on the deployment of peacekeeping forces to Nigeria. We do not assess their deployment to be the most effective or appropriate way to tackle the terrorist threat in North East Nigeria or the intercommunal violence in the Middle Belt.